By Heather Lusk
Zionsville-based Apex Energy Solutions has been named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top New Franchises list after a year as a franchise business.
The list recognizes the top 100 franchises started in the last five years. The company was one of seven businesses on the list recognized in a special magazine feature.
“We’re pretty new to the franchise game,” said Bram Wahl, director of new media for Apex Energy Solutions. “We’re really honored to be included on that.”
Apex Energy Solutions, which sells window and eco-friendly building products, was founded in 1998. As a dealer it works directly with the manufacturer to co-design their products.
“We work with them to get the options and efficiency that we need on our product,” Wahl said.
Almost 10 years ago the company moved into a license model, opening several branches across the country.
“(Owner) Michael (Foit) is very much a believer in the entrepreneurial spirit,” said Wahl, who added that Foit wanted to give his licensees freedom in developing their business model with their poducts.
With an increasing focus on technology, the licensees weren’t able to receive the support they needed to be successful because of legal restrictions.
“After several years of growing the business and developing a lot of resources, we just knew that we needed to give them that support, and in order to do that we had to convert our business model,” Wahl said of the reason for switching to franchisees.
The company has developed technology that helps track customers, educate customers about thermodynamics and design windows.
“We’ve figured out over the last almost 20 years what works really well to build the business successfully, and that’s what we’ve put into the operations manual for the franchise,” he said.
Apex Energy Solutions has franchises in 14 markets.
